Two Carat, Platinum Setting
by laurendee
Summary: SandyKirsten. The story of how Sandy proposed with a plastic ring and won over Kirsten's heart, written with Kandy flashbacks and storylines about the Kandy angst that has been featured in recent episodes.
1. Default Chapter

DISCLAIMER: Don't own.

Author's notes: So much emphasis was put on Kirsten's ring in the last episode, I've decided to write a fic about how Sandy proposes with a plastic ring. This chapter takes place in "The Mallpisode" in the scene in the Cohens' bar when Sandy and Caleb are talking about the plastic ring.

"If memory serves, you proposed with a ring from a Cracker Jack Box."

"Actually I won that ring, at the Cliff House arcade in San Francisco."

Sandy swirled his drink around, still thinking about the night he won it, saying, "I knew for a long time that I wanted to propose to Kirsten. I was just looking for the right way to propose to her without, well you know, a real ring, since I didn't have enough money saved yet to buy the one I had in mind. Finally it hit me how to propose when I won that ring."

_That night Sandy and Kirsten had gone out with two of their friends who had been dating. The girls went shopping while the guys played video games in the arcade. Later on they were going to meet up for dinner and a movie._

_Sandy__ desperately wanted to and was ready to propose to Kirsten, but didn't have enough money saved up to buy the 2 carat platinum wedding set he had his eye on for her. He was financially ready for marriage, but it was just that this ring would take a huge chunk out of his savings that he was hoping to save for when he and Kirsten eventually bought a house. And besides, if he proposed now, what was he going to say, "Kirsten, will you marry me? You will? Great! Just one thing, I'm still saving up for your ring, but don't worry, by the time we walk down the aisle I should have it for you."_

_No, he couldn't do that. He knew Kirsten didn't care if she had the most expensive, glamorous ring in the world, but he wanted her to know that he was financially stable to start a life together with her and he didn't think proposing without a ring would make that impression. And besides, even if she didn't want the most expensive ring, he sure wanted to buy that ring, and only that ring, for his princess._

_He had one token left. Video games required two. Just as he was about to chuck the token, he saw a crane game that only required one, so he put the token in, having no idea what he would soon stumble upon._

_"Hey Mark, I won!" Sandy said a little too excitedly. "And this isn't a 'Win Every Time' crane game"._

_Sandy__ opened up the pink egg to see what his prize was: a plastic diamond ring. He did a double take at the ring, suddenly feeling nervousness throughout his body as he realized that this was just the thing he needed._

_"Sandy, you're actually gonna keep that?" Mark asked, laughing._

_"Yeah…I'll give it to Kirsten, let her know I was thinking about her," Sandy said discretely, not wanting to expose his plan just quite yet._

_"You are such a softie."_

_Sandy and Mark saw their girlfriends already sitting at a table in the food court._

_"Hey Mark, just don't say anything about the ring, okay?"_

_"What ring?" Mark asked, already forgetting about the piece of plastic Sandy had won._

_"You know, the ring I won."_

_Putting it all together, Mark said, "Are you gonna…tonight…?"_

_Sandy__ smiled and nodded._

_"Well, then I'll make sure me and Sam have an excuse to leave early tonight."_

_Though he ate, dinner wasn't on Sandy's mind. He couldn't stop staring at Kirsten and thinking of what he was going to ask her tonight. He looked at her left ring finger that was naked, thinking to himself, "tonight it'll have a ring on it"._

_After dinner the four headed to the movies._

_"Hey Sandy, why don't you and Kirsten get the tickets, we'll get the refreshments, okay?" Mark asked his friend, then winked and secretly whispered, "by refreshments I mean we'll be leaving, good luck"._

_"Thanks," Sandy said, unable to contain his excitement._

_"Sandy, I thought we were going to see "Against All Odds", Kirsten said as she heard him order tickets for "Footloose", adding in, "and we already saw 'Footloose'"._

_"Ah, come on, let's see this instead," Sandy said, nodding to himself for thinking of the idea to see a movie that had been out for a while so that there would be less people in the theatre, thus more romantic._

_"But I really wanted to see "Against All Odds", Kirsten continued._

_"Please," Sandy said with a puppy dog face, "you know I love the songs in 'Footloose', do it for me?"_

_Kirsten rolled her eyes playfully and said, "Only because I love you," and then gave him a kiss on the lips._

_They headed into the quiet, empty theatre. Perfect, Sandy thought to himself. He started getting nervous as his idea was getting closer to becoming a reality. Thoughts went through his mind, "maybe this was a really stupid idea, maybe Kirsten will say no, maybe you shouldn't do this"._

_But his confidence outweighed those negative thoughts and he found himself reaching inside his jacket, making sure that the egg was still there._

_"Hey I just realized we forgot to tell them we're seeing this instead! I'll go get them," Kirsten said as she started to stand up._

_Sandy__ grabbed Kirsten's arm and sat her back down in the seat. "Kirsten wait, they know we're here."_

_Now was the time Sandy thought, "You can't keep lying, and she's going to get suspicious as to why you're acting so jittery, just ask her already!"_

_"Okay…" Kirsten said as she looked at him strangely._

_"I want to ask you something."_

_"Okay…" Kirsten said again, looking at Sandy suspiciously. "He's been acting weird ever since he and Mark came to the food court," she thought to herself._

_Sandy__ stood up, stepped back into the aisle, got down on one knee, and took Kirsten's hand. Kirsten's mouth dropped open and she started to tremble._

_"Kirsten, I've been wanting to ask you this for a long time. I just couldn't think of the exact way in which I wanted to do it. Since you've came into my life you turned my world around and I've never been happier…I've realized that with you I can do anything…you are the spark in my life and you light me up…you are my rock and my soul mate…I want to spend every single day of my life with you…I want to laugh and cry with you…I want to start a family with you…I want be your husband…Kirsten Nichol, will you marry me?"_

_Kirsten's eyes had started welling up right when she saw Sandy drop down to one knee. Now she was crying. "Sandy! Yes, yes, oh wow, I can't believe this is happening," she said, and then much louder as she started to realize that it was real, "Yes, yes, of course yes, I love you!"_

_Sandy reached into his jacket, took out the pink egg, and put the ring on Kirsten's finger. "Kirsten this ring is just temporary. I've wanted to propose to you for a while but I'm still saving up for the ring I picked out for you. I didn't want to propose without a ring."_

_Kirsten rolled her eyes, "Sandy, I would have said yes regardless of if you had a ring or not!"_

_Still, Sandy explained further, "When I won this tonight at the arcade, I realized I should propose to you tonight with this so you have something to wear for now. But I don't want you to think this is your ring. I'm saving up to…"_

_Sandy__'s explanation was interrupted by Kirsten's mouth covering his, as she wrapped her arms around him and kissed him passionately. When they took a minute to catch their breath, Sandy continued, "Kirsten, I just want you to know that I'm financially stable for marriage, I just want to buy you a specific ring that I'm saving…"_

_"Sandy!" Kirsten said again, looking him in the eye and smiling, "I don't care if it was a string you tied around my finger, as long as we're together, that's all I care about. You know that! I have you…that's all I need!"_

_Now Sandy was brought to tears, nearly speechless. "Kirsten, I love you!" he said as he wiped the tears off her cheeks and tucked her blonde strands of hair out of her face. Then, in a smart-aleck grin, he said, "But I'm still going to get you that ring!"_

_"And the fighting begins," Kirsten said laughing as she pushed him playfully, and then said more seriously, "Sandy I can't wait to be married to you. I can't wait to start a family with you. I can't wait to introduce myself to everyone as Mrs. Kirsten Cohen, I can't wait to see our names written together on address labels and checks!"_

_"I know me too."_

"So that's how you proposed to my daughter…in a movie theatre with a plastic ring," Caleb remarked.

"Yup," Sandy said proudly, "that's how I proposed."

Pouring another glass of wine, Caleb asked, "So when you saved up enough money, you bought her the set? When'd you give it to her?"

So the next chapter will be a flashback about how Kirsten gets her rings. I'm also going to incorporate in some scenes regarding Kirsten's recent "misplacement" of her ring. Hope you liked it and that you leave me a **review** telling me what you thought! Love ya!


	2. The Wedding Ring

DISCLAIMER: Don't own.

**Thank you to all those who reviewed! I appreciate it! Enjoy the chapter!**

That night while in the process of winning the plastic ring, Sandy told Caleb the story of how he bought the wedding set for Kirsten. He didn't go into too much detail though, as part of the story involved Sandy and Kirsten's wedding and it still hurt to bring up the wedding since Caleb didn't attend it.

That night Sandy put the plastic ring on Kirsten's finger. He could tell from the look on her face that the same memories that flooded his mind earlier were flooding hers as he put the ring on.

The next morning he awoke to find Kirsten cuddled in his arms with her head resting on his chest. He smiled to himself, fondly thinking back to the fun he and his wife had had the night before. Sure, he had been hoping that by putting that plastic ring on Kirsten's finger she would realize how much he loves her, but he had no idea the response it would have…he couldn't remember the last time they took a shower together, but somehow, it happened last night.

His mind drifted off to thinking about last night. He remembered as he was shaving Kirsten told him she'd be waiting for him in the bedroom. He found her, dressed in the black and pink see-through pajama tank he loved to see her in so much, laying seductively in bed. Needless to say, it was kind of pointless for both to even put pajamas on as the party continued from the bathroom to the bedroom.

It had been a long time since they made love and it never felt better. He felt so connected to Kirsten now that they worked everything out. He felt as if their marriage was getting stronger because of everything that happened over the past few months.

Now, he looked at his wife, still sound a sleep with a small smile on her face. His eyes wandered over her beautiful, naked body, so warm against his own, with her left arm and hand gently resting across him.

He picked up Kirsten's hand and softly kissed it, then traced around Kirsten's fingers before interlinking his own with hers. Something felt familiar as his fingers found hers. It sure didn't feel like the plastic ring. He looked down at her hand to find Kirsten's wedding set on her finger.

He breathed a sigh of relief, happy that Kirsten had found them.

Normally he would have been able to watch the sun rise from the windows of their bedroom. Not today though, as the curtains were all pulled closed last night so that Ryan couldn't catch them in the act of making love. Still, some sunlight reflected into the room, making Kirsten's rings shine brightly and cast a reflection on to the wall as Sandy played with them.

He thought back to when he got her the set.

_He noticed the date as he signed the charge slip for Kirsten's wedding ring. It was the beginning of January, almost a year since Sandy had proposed. While he was hoping to buy the set for the wedding, unfortunately the price went up so much that he was only able to buy the wedding ring._

_He couldn't contain his excitement as he walked into their apartment, grinning ear to ear._

_"You look happy!" Kirsten said as she got up to greet him, hugging him and then kissing him on the lips._

_"Kirsten I was going to just let you be surprised at the ceremony, but I have to show you now. I got your wedding ring!"_

_"Sandy, no!__ I don't want to see it till the 15th! I want to be surprised!" Kirsten said insistently, but also playfully as she turned away from Sandy and covered her eyes._

_"Aww but honey, I want you to see it! It's the perfect ring for you!" Sandy pleaded as he grabbed Kirsten's arm._

_"Sandy, I know I'm going to love it! But please, I want to be surprised during the ceremony."_

_"Fine, you win," Sandy said as he took Kirsten's hands off her eyes and then kissed her on the lips and then said, "but baby, just so you know, I was only able to buy the wedding ring. I'm going to get you the engagement ring too, but I thought it would be more important to have the wedding ring at the wedding," Sandy said hoping Kirsten would understand._

_"Honey its fine! I told you when you proposed," Kirsten said as she lifted up her left hand, "this ring is fine!"_

_"Yeah but it's not good enough for my princess. You deserve the best!"_

_"And I do have the best. I have you!" Kirsten said as she wrapped her arms around Sandy and kissed him again._

_xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx_

_Sandy and Kirsten were now on their honeymoon, lounging in the hot tub. Kirsten was sitting on Sandy's lap, holding champagne in her hand with her eyes focused on her wedding ring. Ever since Sandy put it on her finger she couldn't take her eyes off of it. The shine of it was unbelievable. The ring looked so familiar, too, and then suddenly she realized where she'd seen it before. She immediately said, "Sandy, please don't tell me that you bought the ring you showed me in that expensive jewelry store."_

_"What would be so wrong with that?" Sandy asked as he started to laugh._

_"Sandy!" Kirsten yelled as she elbowed him in the arm and turned to face him, "I told you not to buy that ring! It's entirely too expensive! We're taking it back when we get home!"_

_"No, we're not! You are not going to win this argument Kirsten. You won the one when you insisted on not seeing your ring before the wedding. I'm not going to let you win this one too!" Sandy said playfully._

_"Oh yeah?"__ Kirsten said seductively as she turned completely around to put her arms around his neck._

_"Yeah!" he answered and kissed her passionately._

He smiled to himself, enjoying the moment having his wife cuddled next to him in bed.

A little while later, Kirsten awoke, finding herself in Sandy's arms.

"Good morning," Sandy said sweetly, kissing her head.

"Mmm…it is a good morning indeed," she responded, looking up at Sandy and smiling back.

"You found your ring I see..."

"Yeah," Kirsten replied a little too quickly, "I found it in the couch cushions. Somehow it must have fell in there when I was vacuuming up the potato chip crumbs Seth left there."

"Is the ring too big? We can go get it resized," Sandy said as he looked at Kirsten's ring and slid it up and down.

"No, its fine. Thanks for looking for it all of yesterday," Kirsten said a little flustered as she leaned up to Sandy's cheek and kissed it.

Sandy sighed. While he had all intentions of this being a good morning, he suddenly became a little upset. "Did Kirsten purposely take off her ring and make up a story about it being lost?" he thought to himself as he got out of the bed.

**Please let me know what you think by reviewing. I'm very appreciative of all the reviews I got for the first chapter! It made my day!**

**The next chapter will have another flashback and a current scene where Sandy questions Kirsten about losing her ring.**


	3. The Engagement Ring

DISCLAIMER: I don't own The O.C., or the characters from The O.C.

Authors Note: I thought only teachers had to remind students that taking other people's work is plagiarism and is wrong to do but I guess I have to remind people about it as well.

Please don't take my specific descriptions, similes, metaphors, and examples I use in my stories. If you want to use the exact way I portrayed something, ask me first. As long as you give proper credit, and I won't mind if you use something that I thought of, but please don't take without asking.

**To all those who reviewed-Thank you for your kind words! I appreciate them!** **Enjoy this chapter and please let me know what you think!**

Sandy didn't know how to bring up the subject with his wife after having such a wonderful evening. After all, maybe Kirsten really did lose her ring and this would make her think that Sandy doubted her honesty. He thought about where Kirsten would put her rings had she decided to take them off purposely…probably in her dresser or in her jewelry box.

While he was making coffee, Kirsten walked into the kitchen. Sandy said, "I called the plumber to fix the sink. Thankfully we don't need him to look for your ring since you found it."

"Yeah," Kirsten replied, touching her ring as she went to get milk out of the fridge.

Sandy again sensed that Kirsten was acting strange—or feeling guilty for lying about losing the ring. He decided to continue subtly hinting about the ring, saying, "Your dad and I looked all over for it. I even let Cal in our bedroom."

With that, Kirsten nearly dropped the milk, her face turning bright red as she tried to cover her weird behavior. "You did?"

"Yup. He looked in your jewelry box but he didn't find it in there. I looked in the bathroom, under the bed, in the drawers…"

"Oh," Kirsten said, quickly turning her attention to making breakfast.

"Yeah," Sandy replied, "we looked in all the wrong places I guess, at least you found it." He decided to change the subject as it was obvious Kirsten wasn't willing to talk about the ring, and he didn't want to lie to her anymore about the fake story of him and Cal looking all over for her ring.

Now he had to figure out if he wanted to confront Kirsten about the ring—or wait for her to bring it up. As he pondered this, he gazed at Kirsten's ring as she spread cream cheese on a bagel, which reminded him of a special evening they had shared together 17 years ago…

_Sandy__ didn't have chance to buy Kirsten the second ring to the wedding set until three years after their wedding. It wasn't because of the financial expense, as Sandy had gotten a job as a public defender and made a decent amount of money compared to the hourly salary he had been getting at the other law firm, but it was because Kirsten got pregnant shortly after they got married, thus leading to tiring learning experiences as new parents that took up a lot of their time and energy._

_Seth was now in the "terrible two's", taking every ounce of energy out of both Kirsten and Sandy. In fact, the lack of sleep and stress made the Cohen household very tense at times. Sandy and Kirsten barely saw each other sexually anymore. Between Sandy learning the ropes of his new job and Kirsten juggling the baby and going to school, the Cohens' couldn't find time for each other._

_They finally decided to make time for each other and planned a special evening for just the two of them on a night when Seth's godparents, Sandy and Kirsten's friends, were coming over to see Seth._

_As Kirsten left all her instructions for Seth's godparents, Sandy called and told Kirsten she was going to have to take a rain check on their date._

_"What? Sandy we have-or had-plans. Can't you tell them you'll finish it up next week?" Kirsten asked hopelessly._

_"I can't. I'm sorry honey. I'm still new to the firm and we got a big case going to court on Monday. My boss just dropped a bunch of documents on my desk that I need to look over tonight. Okay?" Sandy asked, hoping his wife would understand._

_"I guess I don't have a choice," Kirsten said frustrated. She wasn't mad at Sandy. She just missed him and wanted to spend more time with him._

_"Save me a plate of dinner?" Sandy asked, smiling as he said it._

_"Only for my husband," Kirsten replied smiling, every time she called Sandy her husband it just made her smile._

_Though extremely tired that night, Sandy still wanted to give his wife the present he had planned on giving her at the restaurant._

_He walked into their house to find Kirsten in Seth's room tucking Seth into bed, singing a lullaby to him._

_"That was great, I'd like to hear the next verse," Sandy said smiling._

_"Sandy! You scared me," Kirsten said as she walked over to him. "Now I'm embarrassed!"_

_"You sounded beautiful," Sandy said, and then apologized again for having to cancel their date, and then said, "Thanks for saving me dinner, but why are there two place settings set on the table?"_

_"For us to eat dinner.__ I waited for you," Kirsten said, giving Sandy a look that said he was forgiven for canceling their date._

_After dinner, Sandy decided to give Kirsten her present. He got down on one knee and took Kirsten's hands and said, "We haven't spent that much time together, but I'm going to make sure that we work out a schedule so that between learning how to parent Seth, my work, and your school we spend more time together. I'm sorry about having to cancel tonight. I was going to give this to you at the restaurant, but I'm going to give it to you now."_

_Kirsten's mouth dropped open in surprise as Sandy took off Kirsten's wedding ring, and put the beautiful diamond engagement ring on her finger before putting her wedding ring on top of her engagement ring._

_"You don't need the plastic one anymore," Sandy said laughing._

_"Sandy, I'm speechless. I told you many times already that this is not necessary! I have you! I don't need an expensive ring!"_

_"You are not going to change my mind," Sandy said laughing, "I had my heart set on buying you this set the second I saw it."_

_"Sandy…" Kirsten said sweetly as she pulled him up and hugged him, "Mm…I love you."_

_"I love you. You know," Sandy said in a mischievous way, "Seth went to bed already, we made up, are you thinking what I'm thinking?"_

_"I am. Come on, let's go," Kirsten said as she grabbed Sandy's hand, leading him toward the bedroom…_

Later on that night, Sandy questioned Kirsten about the ring again. If his wife still had unresolved issues about his hurtful behavior a few weeks ago he wanted her to talk to him, not take off her wedding ring.

"Kirsten, I want to ask you something and I want you to be honest with me. Did you purposely take off your wedding ring?"

"What?" Kirsten asked quickly, stopping from taking off her jewelry as she continued to look straight ahead and not at Sandy.

"If you weren't gardening or washing dishes, just tell me," Sandy said with a sound of hurt in his voice.

"So you're accusing me of lying?" Kirsten said as she turned around, anger in her voice.

"Well you do sound defensive," Sandy snapped back, but then said softer, "I just want you to talk to me. If you're still hurt over everything just tell me. I understand if you need more time to forgive me and for things to go back to normal. I…I…I just don't like you taking off your wedding ring."

Kirsten bit her lip, frustration showing in her face. She turned back around away from Sandy so he wouldn't see the tears forming in her eyes.

As always, let me know what you think. Next chapter will be another flashback and a current scene where Kirsten explains why she took off her ring.


	4. The Truth

DISCLAIMER: I don't own The OC or its characters.

Author's Note: Please do not take any of my ideas without my permission.

**Thank you to the reviewers! You guys are awesome! I'm writing this for you! You deserve to be recognized so here you go:**

**Thank you for reviewing chapter 3: Panz, Cynthia, Kikistrain, Jen, LittleMissKiki, Kandy4eva, Michelle, FriendsHolic, Ryans-Girl-1, Sunny, Ally**

**Please let me know what you think of this chapter!**

Sandy went over to his wife who stood gazing out the windows at the beautiful view of the ocean. He was hesitant to say anything, so he reached out his hand and touched her arm softly.

Kirsten couldn't move. She never wanted Sandy to find out what she did, but now that he had she dreaded talking to him about it. She hated confrontation and letting her emotions show. Yet, both confrontation and strong emotions were about to take over her. She closed her eyes and bit her trembling lip, trying hard to not let Sandy know she was crying, although she was pretty sure he knew she was.

They stood there in silence for a few minutes until Kirsten said something after gathering some composure. "I thought I lost you," she said in a monotone voice.

Sandy waited before responding to see if Kirsten was going to explain further.

She shook her head as if trying to block out the painful memories, and continued, "You hurt me, Sandy. At first I thought you just wanted to help her, but then your regular work hours went to all hours of the night. You left me alone many nights and even stood me up on Valentine's Day—not that that's a big deal, but considering you left to say good bye to her at 5 and weren't home till 1am without calling when you knew we had reservations and had promised you'd be right back kind of made it a big deal. The worst thing you did though," she said and stopped to regain her composure, "was that you said you didn't trust me." Her voice cracked a little and she put her hand to her cheek to wipe a tear, not once turning around the entire time as she finally told Sandy how had been feeling the past few weeks.

Sandy, meanwhile, listened intently as his wife poured her heart out to him. It hurt him to see her like this and to hear her say that he hurt her. All this time he was helping Rebecca he never realized that he was hurting his and Kirsten's marriage that had been so strong all these years. He wished that he'd realized it long before it came to his wife taking off her wedding ring.

"You doubted my trust, so I began to doubt yours. After all, a marriage is built on both people trusting one another. Even though you came "home" both literally and figuratively on that rainy night I was still hurting. I doubted that you loved me after everything that happened over the past few weeks. I doubted that you loved our marriage and that you wanted to be in it. I felt like our marriage was lost. So, I took off my ring to see if you would notice. I wanted to see if you were concerned with both my ring and our marriage being "lost".

As Kirsten finished speaking, she turned around to look at Sandy, a small distance between them.

Sandy noticed that her eyes were red from crying, but that she wasn't crying anymore. He knew his wife didn't like to show emotions but he hoped in this case she wasn't hiding her crying, but instead that she was finished crying and ready to start showing her pretty smile again. He didn't want her to be upset.

"Turns out, you were concerned with finding my ring and with our marriage since you spent all day with my dad looking for my ring and you apologized for everything. That made me feel better, hence the beautiful time we had together last night."

"I think they call that "make-up sex"', Sandy said with a small, hesitant smile.

Kirsten smiled a little, her eyes wandering around the room as she tried to hold back tears. She hated when her emotions got in her way.

Sandy closed in on the distance between him and his wife and pulled her into a long, tight hug. "I'm so sorry, baby. I wish I'd realized I was hurting you sooner. I never meant to hurt you. Things just got carried away. I didn't mean to let them go that far."

Kirsten suddenly got out of Sandy's hug. "What do you mean, 'let them go that far'?"

Sandy froze, realizing that he may have phrased that line wrong.

"Sandy—did you have an affair?"

"No, no, of course not!" Sandy replied a bit too quickly.

"Well did you do anything with her? Did you come close to having an affair?" Kirsten questioned him.

"No…" Sandy said defiantly, but meanwhile was thinking of the kiss he and Rebecca had and if he should tell Kirsten. He didn't want that kiss to somehow hurt Kirsten and his marriage. If Kirsten ever found out about it from Rebecca he knew she would be even more angry with him than if he told her now.

Kirsten sensed he was thinking about something. "Sandy? What are you thinking about?"

Sandy thought carefully about how to phrase it, and said, "While we are being honest...I should tell you this…but please know that it was a mistake…I kissed Rebecca on Valentine's Day." He waited to see Kirsten's reaction before going into an explanation.

"You did…" Kirsten said as if she suspected it.

"Let me explain," Sandy said hopelessly as he grabbed Kirsten's arm.

Kirsten shook her head frustrated and ran out of the bedroom screaming, "I've had enough of this for one night!"

Sandy sat down on the chair in their bedroom. He glanced out the window and saw his wife in the kitchen drinking wine right from the bottle. Even being this far away, he could see the shininess of her rings as he watched her hand holding the bottle of wine as she drank it non-stop. "At least she's still wearing the set," he thought to himself, suddenly getting an idea.

He went through some old stuff from Berkeley and found the phone number of the jewelry store he got Kirsten's rings from. Maybe, just maybe, this would make Kirsten realize how much he loves her. He hoped it would. He dialed the number and hoped the jewelry store had what he was looking for.

I know this chapter wasn't very fluffy but I wanted to depict Sandy and Kirsten's emotions as best as possible without rushing the story along. The next chapter will be very fluffy…hmm…what is Sandy looking for at the jewelry store. I hope you liked this chapter!

Let me know what you think!


	5. The Parallel

DISCLAIMER: I don't own The OC or the characters from The OC

Author's Notes: As promised, this chapter is fluffy. I wasn't planning on including all the events in the flashback as I did, but I started writing it and couldn't stop, so you guys got some extra Kandy backstory. I really hope you enjoy it and let me know what you think! I tried to update fast since everyone reviewed so fast! Thank you for reviewing, I appreciate it! Enjoy!

Kirsten walked into the bedroom a little while later. "She can really handle her liquor," Sandy thought to himself as she walked without a bobble to the dresser to get some pajamas, "you'd think she never even had a glass of wine, but she drank an entire bottle." As Kirsten went into the bathroom, Sandy quickly changed into pajamas and got into their bed, wondering if Kirsten would join him there.

To Sandy's surprise, she joined him in their bed, but turned her back to him, an awkward silence filling the room. Sandy wanted to explain himself, but he wasn't sure what to say. At the same time he didn't want to just turn his back on his wife and lay there in silence all night long. What he did know was that he wanted to feel connected to his wife, so he turned over and reached out to touch Kirsten's hand softly, hoping she'd touch his back, as if to say, "I don't want to talk now, but we're going to be okay."

While Kirsten didn't make an effort to hold his hand, she didn't move her hand either, letting his fingers graze the top of hers. She closed her eyes, trying to forget the awkwardness between them and just enjoy Sandy's soft touch on her skin. She wanted to hold his hand and turn to face him and cuddle and be close to him like they always did but she just couldn't bring herself to feel that way tonight. She closed her eyes and suddenly a thought crossed her mind. She was feeling similar to how she felt the first night they shared a bed together. "What a weird parallel," she thought to herself, thinking about how awkward it was the first time they shared a bed and now, over 20 years later, it sort of felt the same way. She let her mind drift back to that first night…

_They were studying together that night for mid terms, if studying meant talking, watching a movie, eating dinner, and enjoying each other's company. Ever since they'd met a few months earlier they'd seemed to have hit it off. They were opposites who somehow conversed for hours and really enjoyed each other's company. You'd think they'd be dating already, but they weren't. Sandy was still getting over his ex-girlfriend running away and Kirsten was still getting over ex-boyfriend breaking up with her because she moved to Berkeley. They both agreed that they weren't ready for a relationship in fear that their good friendship would be ruined by a commitment. So, they'd just been hanging out with one another as friends. Never even kissed…until…_

_Sandy__'s roommate and friend walked in to grab some protection. He was sleeping over his girlfriend's apartment that night. "Kirsten, hi! I didn't expect you to be here this late, you staying here tonight?"_

_Sandy and Kirsten looked at the clock, both surprised when they read that it was 11:30. Sure, it wasn't late, but they both had midterms the next morning at 8am._

_Kirsten looked at Sandy, taken back when she heard Sandy's roommate say that…what if she did stay the night with Sandy? That thought never crossed her mind but for some reason it sounded like a good idea. She was lonely in the apartment she had been renting all by herself._

_Sandy got up off the couch and nudged his friend out of the apartment, a little embarrassed by his friend's question. He didn't want it to be awkward between him and Kirsten._

_"You know it is getting kind of late, I should probably take you home," Sandy said to Kirsten with concern in his voice._

_"Sandy, I drove, I can handle myself this late," Kirsten replied laughing while rolling her eyes._

_"You know if it wasn't for that interruption, I don't think we would have ever noticed the time. I mean you don't have to go now if you don't want to. I want you to stay. It's just that I don't want you to drive home so late. I know, if you want to stay, I'll take you home later and you can pick your car up in the morning," Sandy rambled, something he was known for doing. He was hoping the night wouldn't end now._

_"Okay," Kirsten said smiling back at him, not wanting to leave._

_So, they went back to hanging out. Around 1am, they started getting a little tired. Kirsten sprawled onto the couch, Sandy sitting on the floor next to her. Sandy noticed Kirsten yawn and took that as a clue that they should call it a night._

_"I'll take you home now," Sandy said, so protective of Kirsten._

_"He'd make a great boyfriend," Kirsten thought to herself, "he's so protective and caring". To Sandy she replied, "No, I can drive. You have an exam at 8am too, by the time you get back it'll be around 2. I'll be fine."_

_Sandy__ thought about what his friend had said earlier. "You know, if you want, you could just stay here tonight? It kind of makes sense now that it's already after 1. If you want to that is," Sandy said, hoping he didn't sound like he wanted to get into Kirsten's pants. While he did have the hots for Kirsten ever since he met her, like Kirsten, he didn't want to ruin their great friendship with a relationship. He knew from experience that that could lead to feeling hurt later on. He didn't want that for either of them. But man, he was finding it really hard to resist his feelings for her…especially tonight...they were all alone...having a good time…Kirsten looking so beautiful in her tight tank top and jeans._

_"Really?__ Okay, if you don't mind," Kirsten said a little awkwardly. Like Sandy, her heart was winning the race against her mind which said to be nothing more than friends but her growing feelings for Sandy were starting to take over._

_Sandy__ lent Kirsten some sweatpants to accompany her tank top. They both stood there awkwardly, not knowing who would sleep where. Sandy went over to the bed and fluffed the pillows and blankets, saying, "Here, you take the bed, I'll sleep on the couch."_

_"No Sandy, this is your apartment. You take the bed, I'll take the couch," Kirsten insisted._

_"No, I want you to be comfortable."_

_"And I want you to be comfortable."_

_This argument went on for a while until Sandy came up with a daring idea. "We could both sleep on the bed," he stammered out nervously, "I know its small but that way neither of us can say we lost the argument of who sleeps where," he joked._

_"Umm…okay. As long as you don't mind. Don't worry, I don't take up a lot of space," Kirsten said smiling._

_"I can tell," Sandy replied, motioning at Kirsten's hands that were holding onto Sandy's sweatpants. If she took her hands off of them, they'd have dropped to the floor exposing her thong._

_They slowly got into the small twin bed together. They hadn't even romantically kissed and here they were sharing the same bed. Sandy turned off the night light, the apartment only lit by the light of the moon._

_"Good night," he whispered, smiling at Kirsten. He leaned over and kissed her forehead._

_She turned her head to face Sandy's, and, being so close together, her lips lightly brushed past Sandy's as she kissed him on the cheek and said, "Good night." Kirsten looked back at Sandy, who looked deep within her eyes._

_He pushed her hair out of her face and lightly touched her cheek. Seeing that she wasn't resisting, he leaned in and lightly kissed her on the lips, relieved to find Kirsten's lips reciprocating the kiss. They pulled apart, looked at each other and smiled. Kirsten closed her eyes and softly moaned as Sandy leaned in to kiss her again, this time more passionately, to which Kirsten responded back with a more passionate kiss. Sandy's arms made their way around Kirsten's body and pulled her close to him, holding her tightly. Kirsten pulled up the covers to cover their bodies and wrapped her arms around Sandy's back as the kissing got more intense. They had been holding their desire for one another inside for so long that when it finally came out they couldn't stop the kissing._

_After a few minutes they were out of breath from all the kissing. They stopped kissing and moved away from each other, both realizing what it was leading to. Kirsten said, "You know, if we do this it will change our relationship forever."_

_"I know. If you want I'll sleep on the couch," Sandy said concerned, hoping that Kirsten didn't think he wanted to have sex. The last thing he wanted was for a few innocent kisses to lead to something that could ruin their relationship. What he really wanted her to know was that he liked her. That he liked her a lot and was willing to take things slow._

_Suddenly, Kirsten starting laughing hysterically, "Sandy!__ I meant if we…you know...took our relationship further than just friends."_

_"Kirsten I want to give it a try. We can take it slow. I really like you, a lot. Ever since I met you I thought you were beautiful on the outside, but over the past few months I've come to know the person on the inside and she's even more beautiful. You don't know how many times I've wanted to take you out on a date."_

_"I feel the same way about you. You've brought joy and laughter back into my life, Sandy, and if we don't give this a try I know we'll regret…everything tells me that this relationship would work," Kirsten said smiling, "and I'm longing to call you my boyfriend."_

_"Okay…Kirsten Nichol, would you go out with me tomorrow night? How about dinner and a movie?"_

_"Certainly…but I think we could consider this our first date," she said laughing, hoping that Sandy would agree._

_"Without a doubt.__ We had all the makings of a date…dinner, a movie, a first kiss," Sandy said touching his hand to Kirsten's cheek._

_They sat in silence taking in the events of the evening, gradually letting their bodies find one another again, Sandy wrapping his arms around Kirsten as she snuggled up to Sandy._

_Sandy__ looked down at Kirsten, noticing that she had fallen asleep on him. He leaned down and kissed the top of her head, then smiled as he closed his eyes, happy he finally got what he had wanted for months._

Kirsten woke up to find Sandy not in bed with her. "This is a lot different than how I woke up after we first slept together," she thought to herself. She was referring to the fact that on that morning, she awoke to find herself still in Sandy's arms with Sandy lightly rubbing her back. Not today. She got out of bed and found a note on the dresser from Sandy that said he'd be out for the day on business but would be back before dinner.

She wondered where he could have gone. She doubted he went out on business this early before his usual morning surf. She picked up the phone and began dialing his cell. Suddenly she stopped dialing, wondering what she was doing calling him. She thought to herself, "Remember last night? He wasn't honest with you. He kissed Rebecca." Kirsten frowned and was about to hang up the phone, but then started dialing his number again and said to herself, "I just miss him. I miss the Sandy that told me that night in his apartment that he liked me and wanted to be more than friends. The Sandy who held me tight that first night we slept together. The Sandy who's been just as romantic as he was that first night for the last twenty years. I miss him. I just want to hear his voice and make sure he knows that I will forgive him, and that I love him."

Sandy saw that Kirsten was calling. He didn't want to lie about where he was going, but he didn't want to spoil the surprise either. Although he wanted to talk to Kirsten and apologize again, he opted to ignore her call. He'd explain everything later.

**Let me know what you think!**


	6. The After Fight

DISCLAIMER: I don't own The OC or its characters.

Author's notes: Sorry this chapter took so long. Unfortunately school papers come before fanfics (although I wish it were the other way around). I hope you like this chapter! Let me know what you think!

Once Sandy reached his destination, he checked his voice mail, relieved when he heard pleasantness in Kirsten's voice as she asked him to call her when he got he message.

Sandy decided he should call Kirsten, even if it meant telling a few lies about his whereabouts. After all, he didn't want her to think he was off with Rebecca, but he didn't want her to know where he was.

Kirsten was at work, discussing _Newport Living_ with Julie.

"Excuse me one second Julie, that's Sandy."

Julie paced the room brainstorming future magazine topics while Kirsten answered the phone.

"Kirsten, hi! Glad I reached you."

"Hi, where are you?"

"I'm on business. I have to get something," Sandy replied smiling, happy and excited about what he was there to get.

"How come you didn't tell me you were going on business today?" Kirsten asked defiantly.

"Honey, you know I can't tell you about my cases…lawyer/client confidentiality. I'll be home before dinner. Speaking of which, did you want me to pick something up?"

"No, its okay. I'll get something."

There was an awkward silence. Sandy wanted to ask if he was forgiven. Kirsten wanted to tell him he was. Neither knew how to approach the subject.

Kirsten spoke first. "About last night...I'm still upset, but I forgive you. That's what I was calling to tell you earlier."

"I was just about to ask you if I'm forgiven. Again, I'm sorry. It didn't mean anything," Sandy said, emphasizing his words.

"Well you're forgiven…but don't let it ever, ever happen again," Kirsten replied, closing her eyes as she said it. While she forgave him, it still hurt that he kissed another woman.

"I promise. I love you," Sandy said, anxiously awaiting Kirsten to say it back.

"I love you, too."

"Good. I've got to get going. I'll see you tonight."

Kirsten hung up the phone and breathed a sigh of relief. She felt like their marriage was on a roller coaster the last few weeks. She was glad that she and Sandy made up. Yet again, another old memory came into her mind. She shook her head and laughed as she thought about her and Sandy's first fight and how they made up afterwards.

_They were boyfriend and girlfriend. Many nights Kirsten would sleep over Sandy's apartment, but Sandy never slept over Kirsten's place, as Kirsten was living in a mail truck with her friend, there just wouldn't be enough room._

_Sandy__ felt it was the right time in their relationship to live together. His roommate had just moved out and he wanted Kirsten to move in with him. He subtly tried to bring it up at school one morning but it went all wrong. Kirsten mistakenly took Sandy's questioning her about when she wants to move out of the mail truck as a hint that he wasn't accepting of her living in it._

_Kirsten yelled, "My whole life people have tried to tell me what to do, I'm finally doing what I want Sandy! When the time comes, I will, but right now I want to have fun and live wherever the mail truck takes me! Why did you bring this up? Are you telling me now that you can't accept me living in a mail truck? I'm sorry Sandy, you can't make me move out. I won't."_

_Hurt, Sandy said, "That's fine. I was only asking because I want you to move in with me, but you said it yourself, you're not ready to grow up," and then he walked away._

_Kirsten thought long and hard about what Sandy said. He was right, she did need to grow up and ditch the living-in-a-mail-truck days. Most of all, Sandy, her boyfriend whom she loved with all her heart, wanted her to move in with him, something she'd surely have said yes to had he simply just asked her that. No, not Sandy though, he had to beat around the bush and ramble instead of just asking her. Through her frustration she smiled to herself, that was her Sandy. Now that she knew what Sandy's intentions really were, she had to move out of the mail truck and in with him. She headed "home" to tell her friend she was moving out that weekend._

_Her friend didn't take the news very well. Kirsten apologized and told her friend that she had to have known that this living arrangement would only be temporary, but her friend wouldn't hear any of that. Kirsten didn't know what else to say, so she went back to class, leaving her friend alone in the mail truck._

_After class, Kirsten headed "home" only to find the mail truck not parked in its usual spot. Kirsten froze. Her friend couldn't have just taken off with all of Kirsten's belongings, could she have?_

_Sandy__ was studying in his apartment when he heard a knock at the door. To his surprise, it was Kirsten's now "ex"-roommate. He noticed a box full of stuff in her hands that looked like Kirsten's._

_"Whats all this?" he asked._

_"Your girlfriend's stuff.__ She told me she's moving in with you."_

_"Where is she?" Sandy asked confused._

_"I don't know."_

_Meanwhile, Kirsten sat down on the curb of what used to be her "home". Her vision became blurry as tears filled her eyes and streamed down her cheeks. She was scared…she didn't have any of her belongings and was technically homeless unless she made up with Sandy right now. She didn't want to face him right now, so she just sat there with her head in her hands._

_Sandy__ had an idea where Kirsten was._

_He drove up to where the mail truck used to be parked and saw Kirsten sitting on the curb._

_Kirsten saw it was Sandy's car through her peripheral vision. She looked up, partially shielding her face with her hands so that Sandy couldn't see that she had been crying._

_He asked her if she was okay and told her to get in the car. Without hesitation, she did. As best he could while in the car, Sandy reached over and hugged Kirsten tight and said, "So I guess this means you want to…"_

_"Move in with you," Kirsten finished Sandy's sentence for him and smiled a little. "But not because my roommate took off with my stuff. Because I want to. I told her I was going to move in with you this weekend and she got pissed off and took off…with my stuff."_

_"Actually, I think you'll be pleasantly surprised to know that she dropped your stuff off right before I came here. She told me you were moving in with me but since you didn't tell me you were moving in with me yet I figured you had no idea she dropped your stuff off, so I came here to wait for you to come back from class so that I could…take you home."_

_"Sandy I'm so embarrassed. She told you I wanted to move in with you?"_

_"Yeah."_

_"I'm sorry, I should have talked to you about it first. I mean, I don't want to just barge in on you after our fight last night. If you don't want me to move in…"_

_"Kirsten," Sandy said taking her hands into his, "just because we had a fight doesn't mean I don't want you to move in. Of course I want you to move in…I'm thrilled you're moving in."_

_"Really?"__ Kirsten asked unsurely._

_"Just think about how much easier it'll be to make love whenever we want. Remember sneaking it in when my roommate was in the shower?"_

_Kirsten laughed at that._

_"And Kirsten?__ I'm sorry about what I said this morning. I didn't mean it. Am I forgiven?"_

_"You are. Am I?"_

_"Baby you didn't do anything wrong, except not give me a kiss good-bye this morning."_

_"Well considering the circumstances, it didn't look like you wanted one," Kirsten said laughing._

_"I'll take one now to make-up for it," Sandy said with a puppy dog grin._

_Kirsten leaned in and gave him a quick kiss. She pulled away but Sandy put his hands on her cheeks and pulled her close and kissed. They continued kissing until they were startled by the street light turning on directly above them._

_"I guess we should be getting home," Sandy said excitedly, happy that he didn't have to kiss Kirsten good-bye every night. Now he could just kiss her in bed._

_"Yeah, sounds good to me, home sweet home," Kirsten said smiling._

_When they got home, Kirsten insisted on cooking the two of them their first meal that they'd eat as a couple that live together. Although it wasn't the greatest, Sandy couldn't help but enjoy the meal that his girlfriend had made him._

"Kirsten? Are you listening to me?"

"Oh, Julie, I'm sorry, I was just…"

"Daydreaming," Julie finished the sentence for Kirsten. "You were daydreaming…you must not like my new idea for the magazine!"

"No, I do Julie, really. Let's definitely use your idea!" Kirsten said quickly, hoping to cover herself.

"Great, I'll go get Carter so he can approve it! Thanks Kiks!"

After Julie left, Kirsten went back to daydreaming. Suddenly she got an idea.

When Julie came back, Kirsten excitedly said to her, "Julie, I've got to go take care of something. I'll see you tomorrow!"

Before Julie could speak, Kirsten walked out of the office smiling.

Meanwhile, Sandy had just bought what he went to this specific place for. He smiled to himself, excited to see what Kirsten's reaction would be when she found out what he bought.

**Let me know what you think!**


	7. The Complete Set

DISCLAIMER: I don't own The OC or its characters.

Author's note: Thank you for your kind reviews! I really appreciate your comments and reviews! Enjoy this chapter and please let me know what you think!

Sandy walked through the door wondering why Kirsten was home already. It was only 5:30. Kirsten shouldn't have been home for another hour.

"Kirsten?" he called out as he closed the door.

"Sandy! You're home already?" Kirsten asked with panic and disappointment in her voice as she quickly ran out of the kitchen and into the living room.

"Yeah…I wasted no time…did what I had to do and got home as soon as possible. What are you doing home already? Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine…I was just…doing something…in the kitchen…for work…its messy in there so let me just clean it up before you go in there," Kirsten said frantically as she tried to block Sandy from getting near the kitchen. "So, what are you going to do now?"

"I was hoping we could spend some time together."

"Okay, we could." Kirsten looked at her watch, remembering she had to pick up the boys and said, "Oh, I almost forgot. The kids need a ride home. Hey, do you mind going to get them? They are hanging out at Summer's…but Summer and Marissa are working on prom committee stuff tonight and the kids don't want to stay for that."

"Typical of our kids. I'll go get them. But when I come back, it's going to be you and me spending time together."

"Okay," Kirsten said showing a quick smile and using her hands to guide Sandy back out. She felt bad chasing him out but it'd be worth it later.

Sandy got back into the car, confused about why Kirsten was home and rushed him out like that. He wasn't buying her "doing something for work at home" story. "_At least she seems like she's in a better mood than she was when I left_," Sandy thought to himself.

When Sandy and the boys got home the boys went into the Pool House and Sandy headed into the kitchen, wondering why Kirsten had kept him away from there.

"Kirsten?" he said as he walked into the living room.

Kirsten was in the bedroom applying lipstick. She was startled when she heard the door open. "_How'd they get home so fast_!" she wondered to herself. She looked at herself one more time in the mirror and quickly headed toward the living room where she heard Sandy calling her, but, it was too late, she knew right away when she heard Sandy say her name a second time in a surprised tone that he had already made his way into the kitchen.

"Sandy, you weren't supposed to see yet!" she said in a half-teasing, half-annoyed manner.

Sandy turned around, only to see his wife decked out in a beautiful, red dress, and matching accessories. He couldn't help but think to himself how lucky he was to have her.

"Kirsten, you look beautiful, are we having someone over for dinner tonight?" Sandy was referring to the fact that the kitchen was transformed into a romantic, elegantly decorated setting. The room lit only by red and white candles and instead of the table being set, the kitchen island was set with one of the Cohens' more fancy dinner sets, along with cloth napkins.

"No," Kirsten said softly and smiled, "you and I are having dinner tonight. Just us. I gave the kids money to go out for pizza."

Not only could Sandy not believe his eyes, now he couldn't believe his ears. It wasn't even 24 hours ago that Kirsten was angry with him over his kissing Rebecca. Now she was acting like nothing had happened.

"What's the fancy occasion?" Sandy asked curiously as he took off his jacket and put it on the wicker chair.

"Well, the two of us haven't had a romantic dinner in a while. That's all," Kirsten replied as she took the bowls off the island and poured some soup into them.

"Where's the food from? It isn't Chinese or Tai, so I'm going to take a wild guess that it's from the club."

"Yeah, it is," Kirsten lied. The truth was that she left work early to go food shopping and so that she would have enough time to prepare a nice meal for the two of them, but she was afraid that if she told Sandy she attempted cooking, he wouldn't even try the food.

As they ate, they had a long talk about everything that had been going on over the last few weeks. Sandy honestly explained the entire Rebecca situation and Kirsten honestly explained the reason she took off her ring.

Then out of nowhere, Kirsten quickly said, "And actually, I lied…the food isn't from the club…I cooked it." She looked skeptical and anxious as she awaited Sandy's reaction.

"YOU DID?" Sandy said as he nearly spit out the mashed potatoes he had in his mouth.

Kirsten smiled and nodded, a bit bashful after admitting the truth.

"What made you attempt cooking?"

"Well…do you remember the first fight we had when I misinterpreted why you wanted me to move out of the mail truck? After we made up and I moved in with you, I cooked us our first meal. Granted, it wasn't a good meal, but it was the start of a beautiful life together." Her voice got softer as she said, "This morning when I woke up and you were gone…I got scared that you left me…I could even accept you kissing Rebecca, but I can't accept you leaving me." She stopped talking for a minute, afraid that the tears she felt building up inside her would start running down her face, so after giving Sandy a sad glare, she just looked away and played with her fork, mixing the mashed potatoes.

Immediately, Sandy took Kirsten's hands and said, "Kirsten, I would never, ever leave you! I was going to wait till a little later tonight to explain where I went, but I'll do it now. I wasn't leaving you when I left this morning. Never Kirsten, I would never leave you. Please honey, don't ever think that."

"Well I was scared, but relieved when we sort of made up this morning. Then I started dreaming about when we first moved in together and I got an idea that maybe cooking a romantic dinner would be good for us."

"Aww, Kirsten," Sandy said as he got off the island chair and wrapped his arms around Kirsten, rubbing her back with one arm hoping it would comfort her.

Kirsten gladly accepted Sandy's embrace and rested her head on his shoulder and closed her eyes, relieved that she and Sandy had finally completely made up.

They stayed in the embrace for a few minutes until Sandy said, "Okay, I want to explain to you where and what I was doing today."

"But I thought you couldn't tell me…lawyer/client confidentiality…"

Sandy wanted to avoid lying, so he changed the subject and said, "Know what? Why don't we go outside? Actually you go, and I'll be out in one second."

Kirsten refilled her glass of wine and then headed outside. She sat down and nervously waited for Sandy to come outside and explain himself.

Sandy frantically got what he bought out of his coat jacket and looked at it one more time. He then went into the family room and turned on the cd player and then pressed a button that turned the speakers outside on. He pressed play on the cd player only to start hearing Seth's, as Sandy put it, "crazy" music start blasting. "Seth and Ryan," he mumbled to himself, "_they had to take out the romantic music I had in the cd player_."

Suddenly Kirsten heard the music come on loudly, making her jump. "_What is Sandy doing_?" she thought to herself. Then one of the light music stations came on.

Sandy quickly came outside and kneeled down on one knee right in front of Kirsten, took her hands into his, and began with, "Sorry, I was trying to make it romantic with one of our romantic cds, but the kids must have taken it out."

That made Kirsten smile.

"Kirsten, I don't know if you remember, but when I insisted on buying you that wedding set you said was too expensive, there were three rings to the set. You have the engagement and wedding rings, but there is also an eternity ring that fits on top of the wedding ring. I should have remembered to get it for you for our 20th anniversary, but I didn't. Last night I remembered about the third part of the wedding set when I saw you drinking in the kitchen, I saw your ring shining so brightly. It made me think that this would be a great time to get it for you."

Kirsten's face had softened greatly once Sandy had started talking. She was smiling as she said, "Don't tell me you went to Berkeley."

"I took an early flight. You first called me when I was on the plane so my phone was off. I'm sorry I didn't tell you. I wanted it to be a surprise. I want you to know that this symbolizes my never ending love and commitment to you and our marriage."

"Oh, Sandy…" Kirsten said as her smile got even wider, "you shouldn't have."

"Yes, I should have. You deserve it," Sandy said as he let go of Kirsten's hands to get the ring out of his pocket and put it on Kirsten's left finger.

Kirsten's eyes opened wide and her mouth dropped open, making the same facial expression as when Sandy proposed with the plastic ring from the Cracker Jack Box.

After Sandy put the ring on, he continued to hold her left hand, looked at her and smiled, then gave her a kiss on the lips, to which Kirsten responded with a kiss of her own.

"I love you," Kirsten said, looking Sandy in the eye after their two kisses.

"I love you," Sandy said back and kissed her again.

Kirsten stood up and pulled Sandy up so that she could wrap her arms around him. They just stood there, gradually swaying back and forth as their bodies remained as close as possible.

They had been ignoring the music but once they stopped talking, the music got loud again. Ironically, the song, "Can You Feel the Love Tonight" by Elton John came on as they stood in their embrace.

Sandy then said, "I guess it did turn out to be pretty romantic. Can I have this dance with you, my wife?"

"Yes, you can, my husband," Kirsten replied smiling as Sandy took her hand and led her onto the fake grass to dance. Kirsten held Sandy's hand in one hand, and put the other on his shoulder as they began dancing together.

After dancing for a minute, Kirsten changed positions and let go of Sandy's hand and wrapped her arm around Sandy's other shoulder so that she could be closer to him. She rested her head on his shoulder and closed her eyes, completely enjoying the moment.

Sandy took the closeness as an opportunity to kiss Kirsten's shoulder and neck, which he did very lightly and gently. He heard his wife moan as his kisses slowly made their way around the sensitive spots on her neck and shoulders.

By the end of the song, Sandy and Kirsten had stopped dancing in a circle and were just holding each other as they made out. They were startled when the next song on the radio came on, which was Meatloaf's "Paradise By the Dashboard Light". They stopped kissing and looked at one another and laughed.

Sandy said, "Well, this song gives me an idea."

"Oh yeah?" Kirsten said seductively.

"Yeah, come on, let's go to the bedroom," Sandy said laughing.

"What about the dishes?" Kirsten said, looking toward the kitchen.

"Come on, they can wait till morning. I however, can't wait to…you know…till the morning."

"Me either," Kirsten said smiling.

The next morning, Sandy and Kirsten slept late. Seth and Ryan knew what that meant. When the two lovebirds finally strolled into the kitchen holding hands after 7:30am on work and school day, they were startled by the mess left from dinner last night.

"Seth, Ryan, you couldn't have cleaned this up?" Sandy said in a teasing manner.

"Hey, me and Ryan barely have enough time to gel our hair before school. You can't expect us to clean dishes before school, too!"

"You have a point there, son, me and your mother will clean them. That just means more time together before work, right honey?" Sandy said to Kirsten as he leaned in and gave her a kiss on the lips.

"Right," Kirsten said smiling.

"Ugh, you guys, I thought that you finally stopped that early morning kissing because you realized how gross it is to witness this early!" Seth said.

"Actually, we're going to do it more often, right honey?" Kirsten said smiling.

"Right," Sandy said as he leaned in to kiss Kirsten again. Sandy and Kirsten loved teasing their boys about kissing in front of them.

"Come on Ryan, I've had enough of this. I can't believe I'm actually going to say this but I want to go to school."

Sandy and Kirsten smiled at one another.

Sandy said, "It feels good to be back to how we were."

"We're better than how we were," Kirsten said as she looked at her new ring and then back up at Sandy, relieved that they finally put one of the downs of their marriage in the past and were back on the top of their marriage.

So I think that'll be the last chapter, but—if I can think of any way to continue this story or if any of you have any ideas, let me know, I'll be glad to continue it. Please let me know what you think!

Psst…I'm starting a new Kandy story that is going to revolve around the spoilers for the next four episodes! That will be posted within the next few days!


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